The ‘Ethics of Technology’ section aims to provide philosophical accounts on issues related to emerging technologies and their impacts on society. The section is currently developing specialised research on these main topics: Roboethics, ethical issues deriving from the design, research, development and use of robotic systems and technologies (i.e., biomedical applications, bioinformatics, biorobotics, biomechatronics); Technological Divide and Equity Challenges; Human Enhancement; Design for values (DfV) and Responsible Innovation; Political and Social implications of emerging technologies (AI, Online Platforms, Collaborative Robotics).  

Highlight

• Workshop 'Human-Robot Companionship for Healthcare and Wellness: Which Form of Companionship for What Type of Care?' - 17th of May 2024, Yokohama Japan. Topics: We propose a new form of Human-Robot Companionship (HRC) as a novel paradigm, which encompasses 3 different kinds of interactions. The aim of this workshop is to analyse these forms of HRC, in key healthcare and wellness applications, focusing also on the social implications at large, from ethical concerns to impact on social models.

Other Highlights

• Lecture - Pirni, Alberto: Le accelerazioni e i freni: l'urgenza di una valutazione complessiva during the Summer School "Learning Sciences and Digital Technologies”, Università di Foggia e Università LUMSA (28-30 August 2023).
• Special issue - Battaglia, F., Henry, B., Pirni, A., (eds). (2022), Ethics in Robotics and Intelligent Machines/ L’etica della robotica e delle macchine intelligenti, Humana.mente. Journal of Philosophical Studies (deadline for submission: 30 September 2022)
• Conference - Alberto Pirni and Marianna Capasso joined as speakers the Workshop ‘Social Robots between Trust and Deception. The impact on Institutions and Practices’, Conference RoboPhilosophy 2022, University of Helsinki, 18 August, 2022 
• Conference - Capasso, Marianna; Pirni, Alberto; Dario, Paolo. Robot Nudging. An Ethical Exploration of an Emerging Practice in Human-Robot Interaction, 14th International Scientific Conference on Neuroethics. Mapping New Challenges in the Neuroethical Landscape, Pisa-Lucca, 10-12 May 2023
• Conference – Pirni, Alberto and Dario, Paolo co-organised the International Workshop ‘Robot Companionship: Applications and Challenges’, held at the Conference ICSR 2022 –14th International Conference on Social Robotics,  Florence, 13 December 2022
• Special issue - Battaglia, F., Henry, B., Pirni, A., (eds). (2022), Ethics in Robotics and Intelligent Machines/ L’etica della robotica e delle macchine intelligenti, Humana.mente. Journal of Philosophical Studies (deadline for submission: 30 September 2022)
• Conference - Alberto Pirni and Marianna Capasso are among the co-organizers of the Workshop ‘Social Robots between Trust and Deception. The impact on Institutions and Practices’, Conference RoboPhilosophy 2022, University of Helsinki, 18 August, 2022 

Main publications (Selection)

• Capasso, M., (2023). “Piattaforme Online e Polarizzazione Politica. Alcuni spunti dalla teoria spinoziana degli affetti”, Lo sguardo. Rivista di Filosofia. Special Issue Algoritmo. Genealogia, teoria, critica, 34(I), edited by I. Pelgreffi, U. Fadini, M. Badino, 155-175.
• Capasso, M.; Umbrello, S. (2023). “Sustainable Climate Engineering Innovation and the Need for Accountability”, In Technology and Sustainable Development. The Promise and Pitfalls of Techno-solutionism, edited by H. S. Sætra, New York, Routledge, 35-52.
• Dario, P., Ciuti, G., Pirni, A., Capasso, M., Bisconti, P. (2023). “Social Robots between Trust and Deception. The impacts on Institutions and Practices”, in Social Robots in Social Institutions: Proceedings of RoboPhilosophy 2022, edited by R. Hakli, P. Mäkelä, J. Seibt, Frontiers of Artificial Intelligence and Applications, 366, Amsterdam, IOS Press, 677-682.
• Capasso, M.; Pirni, A.; Ciuti, G.; Dario, P. (2023). “Design for Values (DfV) in Action. The case of Robotics for Social Sustainability”, 2022 I-RIM Conference Proceedings, October 7-9, Rome, Italy, 176-179.
• Capasso, M., (2022). Manipulation as Digital invasion: a neo-republican approach, In The Philosophy of Online Manipulation, edited by F. Jongepier & M. Klenk, New York, Routledge, 180 –198.
• Pirni, A. “Kant as ante litteram Theorist and Critic of the Moral Enhancement”, in L. Caranti – A. Pinzani (eds.), Kant and the Problem of Morality. Rethinking the Contemporary World, Routledge, New York, 2022, 3 Voll., Vol. I, pp. 126-137.
• Veluwenkamp, H., Capasso, M., Maas, J., Marin, L. (2022). Technology as Driver for Morally Motivated Conceptual Engineering. Philosophy and Technology. 35, 71.
• Biber, E.; Capasso, M., (2022). The Right to Mental Integrity in The Age of Artificial Intelligence. Cognitive Human Enhancement Technologies, In Law and Artificial Intelligence. Legal, Ethical and regulatory issues of AI, edited by B. Custers & E. Fosch Villaronga, Information Technology and Law Series, vol 35, The Hague, T.M.C. Asser Press, Springer, 503–519. 
• Capasso, M., Umbrello, S., (2022). Responsible Nudging for Social Good: New Healthcare Skills for AI-driven Digital Personal Assistants, Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy, 25, 11–22.  
• Taye, B., & Assefa, A. H. (2022). Healthcare, Healthcare Resource Allocation, and Rationing: Pragmatist Reflections, Contemporary Pragmatism, 19(3), 245-272.
• Umbrello, S.; Capasso, M.; Balistreri, M.; Pirni, A.; Merenda, F., (2021). Value Sensitive Design to Achieve the UN SDGs with AI: A Case of Elderly Care Robots, Minds and Machines, Special Issue on Social Robots: Ethical and Anthropological Issues, 31, 3, 395 – 419.
• Pirni, A.; Balistreri, M.; Capasso, M.; Umbrello, S.; Merenda, F. (2021). Robot Care Ethics Between Autonomy and Vulnerability: Coupling Principles and Practices in Autonomous Systems for Care, Frontiers in Robotics and AI, Special Issue on Responsible Robotics: Identifying and Addressing Issues of Ethics, Fairness, Accountability, Transparency, Privacy and Employment, 8, 654298.
• Capasso, M., Pirni, A., “On the Kantian distinction between Ethics and Right: Linearity and Mediation”, Con-Textos Kantianos, 2021, n. 13, 344-364.
• Pirni, A. (2019). Il potenziamento umano nel solco della "riabilitazione della filosofia pratica", in Mutamenti. Corpo, lavoro, rete, edited by L. Alici, L. Cimmino, authors R. Presilia, G. Gabrielli, A. Pirni, Perugia, Aguaplano, 15-36.
• Pirni, A., (2018). Riconfigurazioni neomoderne della soggettività corporea. Linee per un percorso, Paradoxa, 12, 1, 83-96. 
• Pirni, A. (2017), Pensare la sfida dell’ibridazione bio-tecnologica. Linee introduttive, Nuova Corrente, 159,1, 7-11.  
• Pirni, A., Esposito, R., Carnevale, A., Cavallo, F. (2017). Sostenibilità etica dei personal care robot. Linee per un inquadramento preliminare, Nuova Corrente, 159, 1, 133-151. 
• Pirni, A., “Space and Anthropology of Limit: A Philosophical Perspective”, in D. Angeloni – J. Van Loon (eds), Biology in Space: Challenges and Opportunities, special issue of: Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences, II, 2016, 3-22.
• Mordacci, R., Pirni, A., “Intersubjectivity and Respect in Kant’s Categorical Imperative: A Bioethical Perspective”, in D. Dall’Agnol, M. Consenso Tonetto (eds), Morality and Life. Kantian Perspectives in Bioethics, Pisa, ETS 2014, 154-174.
• Pirni, A., “Towards a ‘Human Enhancement Society’? Opportunities for an Aristotelian Approach to Frame the Question”, Humana.mente. Journal of Philosophical Research, 26(8), n. 1, 2014, 239-252.
• Pirni A., Carnevale, A., “Technologies Change – Do We Change as well? On the Link between Technologies, Self and Society”, in A. Pirni – A. Carnevale (eds), Investigating the Relationship between Future Technologies, Self and Society, «Politica & Società», III, n.s., 2014, n. 2, 173-184, giugno 2014.
• Carnevale A., Pirni, A., “Robotics and Public Issues: a Philosophical Agenda in Progress”, «Cosmopolis», IX (2013), n. 2, http://www.cosmopolis.globalist.it/Secure/Detail_News_Display?ID=69611&typeb=0.
• Koops B.-J., Pirni, A., “Ethical and Legal Aspects of Enhancing Human Capabilities Through Robotics: Preliminary Considerations”, in B.-J. Koops – A. Pirni (eds), Ethical and Legal Aspects of Enhancing Human Capabilities Through Robotics, «Law, Innovation and Technology», 5 (2013), n. 2 (Special Issue), 141-146.
• Pirni, A., Lucivero, F., “The ‘Robotic Divide’ and the Framework of Recognition: Re-articulating the Question of Fair Access to Robotic Technologies”, in B.-J. Koops – A. Pirni (eds), Ethical and Legal Aspects of Enhancing Human Capabilities Through Robotics, «Law, Innovation and Technology», 5 (2013), n. 2 (Special Issue), 147-171.
• Pirni, A., Carnevale, A., “The Challenge of Regulating Emerging Technologies: A Philosophical Framework”, in E. Palmerini, E. Stradella (eds), Law and Technology. The Challenge of Regulating Technological Development, Pisa University Press, Pisa 2013, 59-75.
• Stradella, E., Salvini, P., Pirni, A., Di Carlo, A., Oddo, C.M., Dario, P., Palmerini, E., “Subjectivity of autonomous agents. Some philosophical and legal remarks”, in O. Boissier, G. Bonnet, C. Tessier (eds), Rights and Duties of Autonomous Agents. Proceedings of the 1st Workshop on Rights and Duties of Autonomous Agents, in conjunction with the 20th European Conference on Artificial Intelligence – ECAI 2012, Montpellier, CEUR Workshop Proceedings 2012, 24-31.

Didatics (Selection)

• Pirni, A. (a partire dall’a.a. 2017-2018), corso di “Etica delle relazioni di cura”, dedicato ad Allievi ordinari Classe di Scienze Sperimentali, Settore di Medicina, ma aperto anche ad allievi della Classe di Scienze Sociali. 
• Pirni, A. (a partire dall’a.a. 2020-21) - Course ‘Ethics, Technology and Care Relationship’, PhD Course in Health Science, Technology and Management, Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, 2021/2022.
• Pirni, A. (2021-2022) - Course ‘Tecnoetica della medicina di Frontiera’ [TechnoEthics], Dipartimento di Medicina e Chirurgia, Medicine Enhanced by Engineering Technology (MEET), Università di Pisa, 2021/2022.
• Pirni, A. (2020-) - Course ‘Ethics of Security’, Master of Science in International Security Studies (MISS), Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies.

Outreach and impact

• Pirni, Alberto. 2023. Il futuro è dei robot? Intervista al Professor Pirni, Rivista Militare – esercito, n.1-1/2/2023 - bimestrale
• Pirni, A., Dario, P., Capasso, M. (2022). Robot sempre più collaborativi: nuovi scenari e paradigmi a confronto, Focus Live 2022 “Orizzonti”, Museo della Scienza Leonardo da Vinci - Milano, Novembre 2022.